Single trigger mechanism for double-barreled shotguns



March 31, 1953 DEFQURNY 2,632,972

SINGLE TRIGGER MECHANISM FOR DOUBLE-BARRELED SHOTGUNS Filed March 15,1950 13 no/ fan? Patented Mar. 31, 1953 OFFICE SINGLE TRIGGER MECHANISMFOR DOUBLE-BARRELED SHOTGUN S Noel Defourny,Herstal-lez-Liege, BelgiumApplication March 15, 1950, Serial No. 149,856 In Belgium March16, 1949.3 Claims.

The present invention relates to improved rtriggerrmechanisms fordouble-barreled shotguns .andiis particularly directed to a safetydevice .for :such' trigger :mechanisms which unfailingly prevents thesimultaneous actuation of the firing pins for both barrels.

Anobject of the presentinvention is topro- -'videpa*single triggermechanism for a doublebarreled shotgun which is constructed and arrangedso'that a'selected one of the barrels may be..fired or discharged whenthe trigger is first t'pressed and the other barrel cannot be fireduntil ":after'the recoil resulting from the first discharge.

Another object is to provide a single trigger "mechanism for adouble-barreled shotgun which includes a scar actuating assemblyoperated by the trigger and adjustable to provide for the ini- ".tial.firing of a selected one of the barrels, and a safetydevice moving inresponse to the counterrecoil movement :of the shotgun to then positionthe sear actuating assembly for firing of the .other barrel.

.In accordance with the present invention, the

above objects are achieved by providing a sear actuating assemblymounted on the single trigger for both oscillating and sliding movementrelative to the latter, a control assembly for manually setting theoscillated position of the sear actuating assembly to determine which ofthe barrels will be first discharged, and a safety device controllingthe sliding movement of the sear actuating assembly to position thelatter for discharging the second barre1 in response to thecounter-recoil movement of the shotgun and including a swingable massmovable in response to movements of the gun and connected to the searactuating assembly, spring means urging the mass in one direction and alatch member which, when the gun is cocked, holds the mass against theaction of the spring means and releases the mass when the latter isdisplaced by the counterrecoil movement of the gun so that the springmeans may then move the released mass to a position disposing the searactuating assembly for discharge of the second barrel when the singletrigger is next pulled.

In order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, apreferred embodiment there- .of, as applied to a double-barreledshotgun, is setforth in the following detail description and illustratedin the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:

..Eig..1 is a side elevational .view of a trigger :mechanism embodyinhepresent. invention and cshowneassociated with a .double-barreled.shotgun, with the usual bolt for locking the barrels being openxand thebarrels still in their closed position;

Fig. 2 is ,a longitudinal sectional view of the trigger .mechanism ofFig. 1 taken along the longitudinal axis of the shotgun;

Fig. 3 is a view similar .to that of Fig. 1, but with the barrellockingbolt engaged, the barrels in their .closed position and the right-handbarrel alreadydischarged;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the .trigger plate bearing the illustratedtrigger mechanism;

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of the device determining which of thebarrels is to be first discharged;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary'top plan View of the sear actuating assemblypositioned for firing of the first barrel, and with the parts arrangedso that the left-hand barrel is discharged first; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view, similar to Fig. 6, but showingthe various parts positioned for discharge of the second barrel.

Referring tothe drawings in detail, the frame of a double-barreledshotgun is indicated by the reference numeral I and has a pair ofbarrels 2 pivoted thereon adjacent the breech ends of the barrels withthe usual slidable bolt 6 being provided to lock the barrels in theiroperative position. An operating handle 5 is mounted at the top of frameI and is connected to the bolt 6 in a conventional manner formoving thelatter between barrel locking and releasing positions. The frame I hasconventional hammers (not shown) pivoted thereon and carrying firingpins for discharging each of the two barrels, and a pair of sears 39 and42 are rockable on the frame I and operatively associated with thehammers of the left and right hand barrels, respectively, in the usualmanner.

A trigger plate t is disposed at the bottom of frame I and supportsthe-entire trigger mechanism which, according to the present invention,consists of a single trigger I having a lug 43 thereon and pivotedwithin a bracket 9 on the trigger plate 4 by a pin 8 which passesthrough lu-g 43 and bracket 9. The usual sprin 52 engages trigger 'l forurgin the latter to swing to its rest position. An L-shaped orright-angle bent latch lever I5 is pivoted at I l in the upper part ofbracket 9, and the vertical, downwardly directed leg of latch lever I5is adapted to receive the rearwardly directed-thrust of the rear end -ofbolt 6- against the front edge 49 of the latchlever. The other leg oflatch lever I5 is substantially horizontal .andterminates in a noseportion I7 whichis engageableeither in. a notch 18 formed inthe frontface of a swingable mass member I2 or, as at I9 (Fig. 3), under thelower edge of the mass member I2. The swingable mass member I2 ispivoted at II on rearwardly extending arms of the bracket 9, with thecenter of mass of the member I2 being situated well above the axisdefined by the pivot II.

A finger I3 extends downwardly from the mass member I2 below the pivotII and projects loosely into a central hole or aperture 44 of a searactuating member or plate 24 which is mounted for sliding andoscillating movement on the upper face of trigger I. A notch 23 isformed in the front edge of finger I3 to receive a head 22 on the rearend of a rod 20 which passes through a central groove formed in thebracket 9 and is guided at the front end by engagement in a hole I6formed in the vertical leg of latch lever I5. A spiral coil spring 2| iswound on rod 26 andinterposed between the back face 56 of the verticalleg of latch lever I and head 22 on the rear end of the rod. The sprin2| tends to swing the mass member I2 forwardly and to displace the latchlever I5 in the direction tending to move the nose portion I'I thereofdownwardly out of the notch I8 to the location I9 below the lower edgeof the mass member I2.

The sear actuating member or plate 24 includes a forwardly extending rod25, which oscillates in an opening at the back of lug 43 on trigger Iwhere it is maintained by a pin 46, and a rearwardly extending rod 26,which is slidably and oscillatably received in a notch 41 formed at thefront of a small plate 21 pivotally mounted on a screw or pin 28providing a vertical pivoting axis. The plate 21 is provided with arearwardly directed horizontal extension or rod 36 engaging in a forkformed on a lever 3| which is rockably mounted upon a pivot pin 34extending longitudinally of the gun (Figs. 2 and 5). The position of thelever 3| swinging about an axis extending longitudinally of the gun ismanually controlled by a knob 35 integral with that lever and extendingbelow trigger plate 4.

The knob 35 swings in a transverse plane and, in order to hold it inposition either to the left or to the right, the lever 3 I, at itscentral portion, is formed with oppositely inclined faces 32 and 33(Fig. 5) against which the free end of a leaf spring 36 engages. Thus,the leaf spring 36 and inclined faces 32 and 33 cooperate to act as adetent means for holding the lever 3| and its knob 35 in one or theother of two laterally inclined positions. When the knob 35 is displacedeither to the left or to the right, plate 21 is angularly displacedaround its vertical axis 28 by the action of the fork of lever 3| and acorrespondin angular displacement of sear actuating member 24 isproduced.

The trigger I is further formed with an upwardly directed projection 29extending from the rear portion thereof in order to prevent movement ofthe trigger 'I by engagement against a safety abutment 48 which isslidable in the top 3 of the frame from a release position (Fig. 1) to asafety position (not shown) in the path of movement of the projection29.

The above described mechanism operates as follows:

As mentioned before, the spring 2| tends to swing mass member I2forwardly and to rotate latch lever I5 in the direction moving the noseportion I1 thereof downwardly out of the notch I8. However, when thehandle 5 is manipulated to displace the bolt 6 rearwardly for freeingthe barrels 2, the rear end of bolt 6 engages against the face 49 of thelatch lever I5 and swings the latter in a. counter-clockwise direction,as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the nose ll of the latch lever camsover the lower edge of mass member I2 and engages in the notch I8 todisplace the mass member rearwardly while compressing spring 2|. Sincefinger I3 extending down from mass member I2 engages in aperture 44 ofthe sear actuating plate 24, such rearward movement of the member I2slides the plate 24 forwardly. When the bolt 6 is in its forward orbarrel locking position, the rear end thereof moves away from the faceor edge 49 of latch lever I5 and discharge of one of the barrels causesthe mass member I2 to swing rearwardly in response to the counter-recoilmovement of the gun so that nose portion ll of latch lever I5 is freedfrom notch I8 and the spring 2| is then effective to rock latch lever I5to position the nose portion IT in the recessed space or location I9below member I2. With the nose portion ll of latch lever I5 disposed inthe recessed space I9, the mass member I2 is then free to be urged to aforward position (Fig. 3) by the action of spring 2| against finger I3.When member I2 swings to a forward position, finger, I3 extendingtherefrom acts to slide the sear actuating plate 24 in the rearwarddirection.

Displacement of the knob 35 to the right causes the sear actuating plate24 to swing in the direction displacing its rod 26 to the left so thatthe upper face 31 of rod 26 comes under the inwardly turned or bent nose46 of left sear 39 (Fig. 6). With the parts of the mechanism beingdisposed as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6, actuation of trigger I lifts searactuating plate 24 and causes the rod 26 thereof to contact nose 40 ofsear 39 and rock the latter so that the related hammer (not shown) isreleased for discharging the lefthand barrel. With the parts disposed asin Figs. 1, 2 and 6, nose 4| of the right-hand sear 42 is outside thepath or stroke of rod 26 and consequently sear 42 then remainsundisturbed by any actuation of the trigger. When the first barrel isdischarged and, due to the counter-recoil movement of the gun, the massmember I2 acts as described above to slide the plate 24 rearwardly, forexample to the position of Fig. 7, so that the central part of the face38 of plate 24 comes under nose 4| of the right-hand sear 42, subsequentactuation of trigger I effects rocking of the righthand sear to releasethe associated hammer (not shown) and effect discharge of the right-handbarrel.

When the second barrel has been discharged and the parts of the gun areas shown in Fig. 3, actuation of the handle 5 to displace bolt 6 forpermitting opening of the weapon and to allow cooking of sears 39 and 42and reloading of the barrels causes the rear end of bolt 6 to movebackwards against edge 49 of latch lever I5 for restoring mass member I2to its rearward position with nose portion I! of the latch lever engagedin notch I8 of the mass member. Thus, the parts of the trigger mechanismare again in the positions of Fig. 1 and, when the bolt 6 is returned toits looking or forward position out of contact with lever I5 (Fig. 2),the gun is again ready for firing. If it is desired to efiect dischargeof the righthand barrel in response to the first actuation of trigger"I, it is necessary only to tilt the knob 35 to the left and the abovedescribed mechanism would then operate in the same manner to firstdischargethe right-hand barrel and then, only after the counter-recoilmovement of the gun, to

aesaeva condition the trigger mechanism for discharge of the left-handbarrel in response to a second or subsequent actuation of trigger 1.

While a particular control mechanism for effecting the angulardisplacement of plate 24 in a horizontal plane has been described andillustrated, it is apparent that the same movement of plate 24 may beachieved with other and equivalent mechanisms. Further, the singletrigger mechanism embodying the present invention can be easily appliedto double-barreled guns in which the barrels are arranged one above theother, rather than side-by-side as herein illustrated, by merelyaltering the sizes and arrangements of the various parts in a mannerwhich will be readily apparent.

It is to be noted that the mass member 12 is independent of the triggeri and that all of the operating parts of the mechanism, being mounted onplate 4, are also independent of other parts of the gun, so that theaccurate alignment of the parts of the described mechanism necessary forits reliable operation will not be disturbed by any deformation of thegun structure resulting from hard use or mishandling thereof. Further,the illustrated mechanism is constructed and designed so that it cannotadopt an intermediate position for simultaneous discharge of bothbarrels since the displacement of plate 26 fully to one side er theother is always ensured by the cooperation of spring 35 and theconverging faces 32 and 33 on fork 3| which prevents the positioning ofthe fork 3! at a central location.

While I have described in detail and illustrated a specific embodimentof the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to that precise embodiment, and that many changes andmodifications may be effected therein by a person skilled in the artwithout departin from the scope or spirit of the invention which isintended to be defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a single trigger mechanism for a doublebarreled shotgun having tworockable sears for releasing hammers associated with the related barrelsand a longitudinally movable bolt for locking the barrels in operativeposition; the combination of a support plate adapted to be fixed belowthe sears, a bracket on said support plate, a trigger extending throughsaid support plate and pivoted on said bracket, said trigger beingformed with a substantially flat top surface, a scar actuating membermounted on said fiat top surface of said trigger for lateral oscillatingand longitudinal sliding movement relative to the latter, a mass memberpivoted on said bracket for swinging about a transverse axis dis posedsubstantially below the center of gravity of said mass member, a fingerextending down wardly from said mass member below the pivoting axisthereof, said sear actuating member having a central opening receivingsaid finger so that sliding of said sear actuating member is effected byswinging movement of said mass member and the latter determines thelongitudinal position of the sear actuating member, means operativelyconnected to said sear actuating member for oscillating the latter todetermine its angular position relative to the scars, said searactuating member being formed so that in one angular position the searof the right hand barrel is engageable thereby with said mass memberdisposed at a rearward position and the sear of the left hand barrel isengageable thereby with said mass member at a forward position, and

so that in another angular position of the sear actuating member thesear of the left hand barrel is engageable thereby with said mass memberin said rearward position and the sear of the right hand barrel isengageable thereby with said mass member in said forward position, alatch lever pivoted on said bracket and formed at one end to selectivelyengage, in one angular position, against said mass member and hold thelatter in said rearward position thereof and, in another angularposition, to permit swinginig of said mass member to said forwardposition thereof, the other end of said latch lever projecting into thepath of movement of the barrel locking bolt and moved by the latter whenthe bolt is displaced for releasing the barrels so that said latch leverassumes said one angular position thereof, said mass member having a,recess for receiving said one end of the latch lever in said one angularposition of the latter, and spring means acting on said latch lever andon said mass member and operative to continuously urge the former tosaid other angular position thereof and the latter to said forwardposition thereof so that said mass member is released from said latchlever by counter-recoil movement of the shotgun following the firstdischarge of a selected barrel and then moves to said forward positionto condition said sear actuating member for discharge of the other ofthe barrels.

2. In a single trigger mechanism for a doublebarreled shotgun having tworockable sears for releasing hammers associated with the related barrelsand a longitudinally movable bolt for locking the barrels in operativeposition; the combination according to claim 1, wherein said searactuating member includes a rearwardly extending rod, and said means foroscillating th sear actuating member includes a manually operableadjusting member pivotally mounted for swinging about a longitudinalaxis, spring means urging said adjusting member to assume a selected oneof two oppositely inclined positions, and transmission means operativelyconnected between said rearwardly extending rod and said adjustingmember for transmitting movement of the latter to said sear actuatingmember.

3. In a single trigger mechanism for a doublebarreled shotgun having tworockable sears for releasing hammers associated with the related barrelsand a longitudinally movable bolt for locking the barrels in operativeposition; the combination according to claim 1, wherein saidtransmission means includes a forked portion on said adjusting member, atransmission plate pivoted for oscillation about an axis at right anglesto the axis of said adjusting member and having an extension rodengageable loosely between the legs of said forked portion, saidtransmission plate having a notch formed to loosely receive saidrearwardly extending rod of the sear actuating member.

NOEL DEFOURNY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,051,032 Tilden Jan. 21, 19132,268,349 Stroever Dec. 30, 1941 2,366,893 Eiane Jan. 9, 1945 2,409,939Jenkinson Oct. 22, 1946

